Our Ryan!!!

Last Thursday we had a teacher conference with Ryan's teachers. Roger was home for the evening, so the four of us went to the school. Ryan has two teachers. His main teacher is Ms. Thompson, she teaches math, science, social studies. His other teacher is Ms. Claudio, she teaches writing and english. We sat with Ms. Thompson first and she was so animated about how smart Ryan is and well he is doing. She said that he thinks outside the box and will raise his hand to ask and/or share other ways to solve the problem. She said that at the beginning of the year, Ryan asked her specific questions about what they were going to be working on and learning in math this year ( i.e. "Are we going to work on integers this year?") She said she has never had a child ask her about math like that before. She was eager to get him tested for gifted and wanted us to consider a magnet school for him to be properly challenged in middle school next year. Then we sat with Ms. Claudio who said he was brilliant and a joy in class. She too was eager about the gifted program and magnet school for him. She said that math and social studies are his strengths, because those are his interests. She said that he struggles in writing because he's just not interested in it. When he does put his mind to it, he excels. She said that is a trait of gifted kids. They only want to work or focus on what they like or what interests them. So, both Roger and I were so very proud of him and happy to sit across from those teachers and hear such a good report. They both said they wished they had a room full of Ryans! I was so proud, but at the same time I thought, "are you sure?" hee hee hee Anyway, it was a wonderful teacher conference. In the picture he's learning to throw pottery at my friend Julie's shop. What a mess, but Julie says if you don't have clay all over you, you're not doing it right. So, I guess Ryan was right on!